Research progress on the breeding of japonica super rice varieties in Jiangsu Province, China

In this study we report the results of a decade-long breeding program for japonica super rice made by Nanjing Branch of Chinese National Center for Rice Improvement in Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. We concluded that selection of parents with good comprehensive traits and complementary advantages and disadvantages of both parents in the hybrid combination, and early selection of high heritability traits in earlier segregating generations could significantly improve the breeding efficiency. The use of closely-linked functional markers in pyramiding of multiple genes could greatly increase breeding efficiency, avoiding time-consuming and laborious steps that were used in traditional breeding program. It is also important to coordinate the yield components with variety characteristics such as yield stability, wide adaptability, lodging resistance, and an attractive grain appearance during late growth stage of rice.